The Consell de Ibiza will extend the concessions of the bus lines for a maximum of two years

The consellera Marí hopes that it goes out to contest before the end of this mandate and the PP denounces «the paralysis» in transports

The Consell de Ibiza will extend the concessions of the bus lines "a maximum period of two years" until the new joint for the whole island is awarded, which had to enter into force on January 1. The island councilor for Territory and Mobility, Pepa Marí, hopes, nevertheless, that the concession will go out to tender «before the end of this mandate». Marí explained that the extension will probably be approved in the December plenary session (on the 21st) because it is necessary to inform the concessionaires of this and give them a term of 10 working days so that they can present objections.

The PP group in the Consell denounced yesterday "the paralysis" of the Department of Transport and "the inability" of the government team to approve definitively the regular transport plan by road, necessary to take out the new single concession of the bus lines. Apart from the transport plan, the Consell must approve, before bidding for the new concession, the preliminary draft of the operation of the lines (the journeys, frequencies), which is also pending. Marí insisted that both are very advanced "and that they work" in parallel "on both.

to councilor of the PP Pepa Costa estimates that it will take "at least one year" of extension to process and award the new concession. Costa criticized that, just one month before the concessions expire, "nothing is known." And he recalled that in June, when the plan to transport passengers by road was approved in the initial plenary session, the financial controller signed a report in which he expressed doubts about its economic viability. The auditor warned at that time that the Consell should "justify why it will pay a 'toll in the shade' at the time of proceeding to the tender of the service concession».

No response to the allegations

Costa regretted that the government team has not even responded, almost six months later, to the allegations presented to said plan. "The government team is unable to complete the first phase to tender the new transport concession. The most serious thing is that they do not have the capacity to complete the administrative work, "criticized Costa, while noting that the PSOE and Podemos-Guanyem" have made a mark "in this mandate, without results, according to their criteria, on improving the public transport.

The PP consellera warned that "the consequences" of the delay in the implementation of the new single concession are the use of a fleet of "old and obsolete" buses, which, apart from "the bad image", means "a security risk ", in reference to the complaint of workers of a company (ALSA).

Marí blames the PP for the delay

The Councilor for Territory and Mobility recognizes the delay in the approval of the transport plan and that she would have "liked" it already. "It was not possible, but it is very advanced and we expect it to be in the first quarter of 2019," said Pepa Marí. In fact, the PP will present a motion in today's plenary to urge the government team to complete the processing of the transport plan in the first three months of next year. This motion, according to Marí, will have the favorable vote of his group (the PSOE) and will be approved.

Paradoxically, the councilor blamed the PP for the delay in the approval of said plan because, he remarked, previously they had to adopt "previous steps", such as the tariff integration, the start-up of the Cetis station, the cession of use of the one of Sant Antoni or the agreement with the conselleria of Education to integrate the scholastic routes, and "the past legislature nothing was done in spite of which [the PP, that governed] knew that the concessions had a date of expiration".

The spokesman of the PP in the Consell, Mariano Juan, and the consellera Pepa Costa also emphasized that the government team has not yet spent one euro of the 3.5 million budgeted this year on transport. "As of October 30, only 34% of the institution's total budget had been executed," Juan criticized.

The Minister of Mobility justifies that the contracts for the improvement of some lines or the gratuity cards of the retired people or those under 18 "are paid at the end of the year, not month after month".